The Rising Threat
by RiverClanRules124346
Summary: AU where Morrowseer and Battlewinner decided not to make up the prophesy, so the dragonets of destiny grow up in their tribes. Eventually, the dragonets will meet and unite under a new prophesy. Starflight lives on the NightWing island and has a high social ranking because of his father. He knows something is not quite right, and he and Fatespeaker go off to live a better life.
1. l (Starflight)

**Constructive criticism welcome! Please review and give tips on how to improve future chapters.**

Part 1: Escaping Ashes

Starflight could see out of the corner of his eye the door opening in the front room. He kept reading, assuming that it was just his father coming back from work. Mastermind came rushing into the room.

"Good news Starflight. Morrowseer and Princess Greatness are going to tell you about the plan!" Starflight shrugged. He had already read his father's notes. He knew that they were going to try to dump all the lava into the middle of the ocean using a magical artifact. His father needed a better hiding place for his notes.

"Starflight, it's not what you think it is, those were fake notes." Starflight rolled his eyes. It was exactly a thing his father would do. It was a bit annoying, but he knew that other dragonets didn't have as lenient parents as Mastermind. Starflight loved his father despite his questionable actions.

"So you lied to me? Unsurprising" Starflight muttered. He saw a flash of frustration in his father's eyes, and then excitement returned.

"Well you get to know the real plan now. The meeting is at 5:00." Mastermind had a smile on his face like "my little dragonet is finally growing up." They hugged, and Starflight went back to his scroll.

As soon as he walked into the cave Starflight felt out of place. He knew for a fact that the only reason he was here was because of his father. The only dragon he knew of that had this much responsibility at this young an age was Deathbringer, and he didn't know Deathbringer that well, so he had no idea what Deathbringer did to have such a high place in their society.

This cave dubbed "the strategy cave" by Mastermind, was brighter than most of the caves gloomy on the island, and it seemed eerie. There were also battle maps with little notes like SkyWing general killed here, or troupe of IceWings captured by Queen Scarlet hung on the walls and pinned to a table. But it wasn't the room itself that made Starflight uneasy, it was the dragon in it.

Princess Greatness was sitting down and messily writing. Starflight was curious, but he didn't dare look. Not with Morrowseer in the room.

Morrowseer freaked out all the dragonets, but Starflight had to spend the most time with him. The Queen had made Morrowseer take on an 'apprentice' incase something happened to him, and Starflight was the unlucky dragonet who was chosen.

Morrowseer was scowling. He always scowled. Even as his apprentice, Morrowseer was a mystery to Starflight. Starflight loved to complain and gossip about Morrowseer with Fatespeaker, but he wasn't as nonchalant about it as her. He wanted to know why Morrowseer hated the world. Right now, Starflight didn't care about that, as much as he wanted to deny it, he wanted to know what the plan was.

"So, Starflight, I assume your father told you what this is about," said Morrowseer.

"Yes sir."

"If you tell anyone you'll regret it."

"Ok sir," Starflight replied.

"About 7 years ago, there was an animus who built tunnels, connecting us to the Sand kingdom and the rainforest." Starflight nodded along. Everyone knew about the tunnels.

"We're going to use the one leading to the rainforest to invade them." Starflight forced his expression to stay calm, though he was worried. Something seemed to tell him that invading was wrong, like even though the island was horrible, an invasion wasn't the answer. But he couldn't say that, Morrowseer would punish him.

"The RainWings won't know what hit them," chimed in Greatness.

"Your father is currently working on getting rid of an obstacle in our plan, but once that is figured out we are invading." Starflight lowered his head. He could feel Morrowseer staring at him. He made a snap decision.

"Where will the RainWings go?" There. He said it. He instantly regretted it as Morrowseer's face twisted as he frowned. At last he said,

"It doesn't matter where they go. Don't think about them. We deserve the rainforest." Starflight let out a deep breath. He thought Morrowseer would be way harsher than that.

"You can leave now, but do NOT tell anyone, do NOT ask questions, and don't you EVER think about the RainWings except how to KILL them!" Starflight involuntarily shook, and ran out of the room as fast as his legs could take him.


	2. ll (Fatespeaker)

_No,_ not _that, none of these are interesting!_ Fatespeaker had finished the last scroll she read, and she had to bring a scroll to school. She gave up, and wandered around the library. If she needed a scroll so bad, she could borrow one from Starflight.

She skimmed through the shelves dusty because of lack of a better thing to do. How did Starflight just read all day? Fatespeaker found it boring. Starflight said it was "a way to escape." The only thing she escaped from was her teacher's anger about her not reading. Suddenly, she heard the library doors open, and Starflight came in.

He walked around casually, like he always did when he was looking for a new scroll. Fatespeaker realized that he didn't know she was there. She went behind him, put her talons over is eyes and said,

"Guess who."

"Fatespeaker," Starflight said. Fatespeaker could tell he was rolling his eyes without even looking at his face. He kept saying that the joke was getting old but Fatespeaker kept protesting that it wasn't.

"I was looking for you actually. I need to talk to you."

"Sure," she replied. Starflight gestured for her to walk with him. She followed him to a secluded spot on the island, a boring old slab of rock.

Starflight took a deep breath.

"Morrowseer wants to invade the rainforest and drive the RainWings out. I- I don't want that to happen. Does that make me disloyal? I know the island is terrible but is invading the answer?" He said it so quickly that Fatespeaker almost didn't understand what he said. Then it dawned on her.

"Starflight, this may sound crazy, but how about we warn the RainWings?" Starflight looked taken aback.

"So we should become traitors?" He deadpanned. Fatespeaker nodded her head.

"Think about it, like really think about it. The RainWings will know so the NightWings won't be able to surprise them! The RainWings can't be too threatening, but they can still have an advantage!"

"But what if Morrowseer or Greatness found out? We'd be in so much trouble. They might exile us! Or worse, kill us! How could this be worth it?" Fatespeaker narrowed her eyes. She didn't know Starflight would be so against this.

"Then we don't even have to come back! This place is terrible! Most of the population is starving! You'd never have to see Morrowseer's ugly snout again!"

"Know what Fatespeaker, I'll humor you. Say we do leave. Where will we go? I don't want to be around when the NightWings invade."

"Then we go to another kingdom. You said you wish you could visit the desert or the mountains. We can! We can run free of responsibilities! You name it and we can do it!"

"It's a bad idea," he mumbled. Fatespeaker groaned.

"I can foresee it going well!" Starflight's face was the iyou know you don't have powers, right?/i face. Fatespeaker knew that was true, but she still harbored the hope that she had at least a little bit of power.

She gave up. She turned away.

"Where's your sense of adventure," she murmured. She didn't look back.

During school she realized that her idea was pretty stupid, it had way too many ways it could go wrong. Dragons might not take kindly to dragons of other tribes living in their land. They could be captured. And the rainforest was big, two tribes could easily live in there.

But now that she had the idea she couldn't imagine doing anything else. She would be able to live a perfect life! She could have a little wooden cottage with Starflight, with scrolls for him and fun for her. They could live in a small town with a lot of friends and festivities every other day.

She absentmindedly began doodling in her notebook. She drew a curved line which became a dragon who became a SandWing in a marketplace laughing about something or other. She felt like something was missing so she drew silver scales at the corners of the dragon's eyes, just like Fatespeaker's own eyes. She messily colored it in, because she thought that nothing was real art unless it was in color.

Class let out, and she went outside, admiring the unusually sunny day and thinking of how she could draw it. Then Starflight started flying over and she was conflicted, they fought the day before but he was her only friend.

He approached her, scales glimmering in the sunshine, his eyes full of distress and stress and said,

"I'm in."

 **I'm sorry about the cliffhanger, but these chapters will come out basically every day, so you'll never have to wait long. This fic is actually one of the fics I'm doing for NaNoWriMo. Sense this is my first time doing it and I'm bad at writing long stuff, I lowered the word count to 20,000 and any work I write contributes to it. This is the fic I'm most interested in, so it's probably going to come out every day for the rest of November. It should actually be finished in November too, because I'm going for a chapter a day and there are only going to be 18 chapters.**


	3. lll (Starflight)

"I'll be back at 12:40 for lunch. Come get me if you need me," Mastermind said before flying off to work.

Starflight fooled around a bit, Morrowseer didn't need him that day. He laid back in his bed and read a scroll by Queen Coral. She wrote good fiction scrolls, but all her non-fiction was propaganda, so he didn't read those.

Once he finished, he glanced at the clock. It read 1:13. _Mm, why isn't he back yet? Maybe I should go after him. He won't mind, he'll probably be happy to see me._

Starflight flew the five minute flight to Mastermind's lab. He knocked on the wooden door. No answer. He cautiously went in. Mastermind was sitting out with a slab of metal and a leaf that looked like it had been burnt, but not quite. Mastermind had the _"why is this simple thing so hard,"_ face.

"Dad?" Mastermind sat up rigid, then relaxed.

"Oh, Starflight. You startled me there."

"You didn't come for lunch."

"Oh! I'm sorry Starflight, I just got so wrapped up in my work." Mastermind glanced at the metal and the leaf. "I guess I could tell you about my work now that Morrowseer finally told you the plan. It's so exciting, isn't it? We won't have to live on this island anymore!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Starflight shrugged.

"We'll have the rainforest and all the flora and fauna! It will be way easier to conduct experiments when the things I need are right at my doorstep. And we will be able to get imports! Do you know what that means?"

"I know what imports means dad."

"I mean that we can get more scrolls for you!"

"That does sound good," Starflight said. The NightWing libraries were very limited because all scrolls from the mainland had to be brought back by dragons on missions out there.

"Anyway, that was a tangent. Let me show you what I've been working on."

Mastermind ended up taking him on a tour of the lab, even though it hadn't changed much since Starflight had last seen it, a few weeks ago.

"I desalinate the water with this," he pointed to the contraption. He then over explained the rest of the little gadgets in the lab. Starflight had heard all about them before, but Mastermind loved talking about it and Starflight loved listening to him ramble on about it.

"Ok, now I'll blow your mind with something that I haven't told you a million times already. About a year ago, I discovered an astonishing natural phenomenon."

"So this is what Morrowseer had to keep you from saying." A year ago, Mastermind had come home so excited that he bounced up and down. Mastermind had started to tell him, but before he could get to the gist of it Morrowseer came in and clamped a talon over Mastermind's mouth. He said that he couldn't tell anybody, not even Starflight.

"Yes. Good memory. But even though I've had a year to test it, I still know very little. We haven't put it in scrolls. One tribe, has evolved an unusual defense mechanism. They can shoot out deadly, toxic, venom from their fangs! It melts any organic matter it comes in contact with. You'll never be able to guess which tribe!" He didn't wait for Starflight to guess. "RainWings!" Starflight stepped back, he had a bad feeling about it.

"Come with me." Mastermind opened one of the doors. It opened into a long narrow room, like a hallway. Shackles with ridiculously short chains were bolted to the floor near the entrance. Many scratches and chalk marks marred the walls.

Starflight suddenly felt ill.

Mastermind explained many questions he still had. Starflight felt betrayed. His father had been doing this behind his back for a year. Starflight thought that he knew his father. Apparently not, because Mastermind had hid something so horrific from him for months. Months of laughter and inside jokes and shared knowledge and hugs and love. And behind the scenes was this. A suspicion grew and grew.

"Come with me to another room." Starflight almost didn't follow. He almost ran as fast as he could to tell Fatespeaker that they were going, they had to, they must tell the RainWings because if they didn't horrible things would happen. But he followed, and pinned to a wall there was a RainWing. Starflight lost it.

He yelled. He yanked on the chains and got one lose and then Mastermind was holding him down so he kicked and screamed and when he got free he ran like the wind. He got out of the caves and he flew to Fatespeaker's school.

By the time he landed it was all a blur. All he knew was that he had to find Fatespeaker and they had to get out of there.

And then she was in front of him and her brow bones were knit, and all Starflight could choke out was,

"I'm in."


	4. lV (Fatespeaker)

"I knew it. I knew you would give in," Fatespeaker lied. Part of her had thought that, but she mostly thought that her plan was awful, it could never go right. "Let's go somewhere more private to talk about it."

They flew over to the spot where they had talked the day before, a ledge covered with dried lava. It rained a light drizzle. Fatespeaker noticed the rigidness of Starflight's limbs as he flew. She put her talon on his shoulder as a reassuring gesture, but he shrugged it off and became even more rigid.

They landed on the hard rock. Starflight took deep breaths, and his body relaxed. Fatespeaker put her wing around him.

"Can you explain whatever happened to you?" Starflight nodded. He told her how Mastermind had late to lunch so Starflight went and found him. He explained how Mastermind had been chaining up RainWings to do experiments with their venom. He said if someone had tried to capture a SandWing for their venom that too many dragons would notice but Mastermind preyed on RainWings's weaknesses.

And then he ranted about how Mastermind had kept his dark side from Starflight from a year. A whole year. He said that he thought he knew Mastermind but he didn't. And then he cried and Fatespeaker wrapped her wings around him. He made soft wailing sounds, and she felt a little embarrassed but they had been friends practically since they had hatched so she realized she shouldn't be embarrassed. She had cried in front of Starflight many times.

She didn't know what it was like to be betrayed by someone close to her. She didn't even know her parents. Starflight was her only friend. So she didn't say anything. She felt like nothing would be able to say anything worth saying.

Fatespeaker began to feel happy. She felt guilty about it, but Starflight had stopped crying and they were just sitting there, cuddling. She thought about it. Starflight had calmed down when he talked to her. She was his friend. He probably liked being around her.

Fatespeaker knew that she had a crush on him. Starflight complained a lot about stories where characters didn't know they had crushes.

i"A dragon can tell when they have a crush,"/i he would say. She agreed. She hoped that he was talking from personal experience.

Finally Starflight said something.

"This is nice. Just the two of us," he said. She nodded slowly.

"How should we get away," she asked.

"I have to think about it," he replied. "Any ideas?

"I think we should sneak away at night." She tapped her talons on the rock. "Once we're in the rainforest we can have a RainWing take us to Queen Dazzling."

"That sounds good. I just realized, how do I talk to my father now? I kicked and scratched at him." It was raining hard, as opposed to the drizzle from earlier.

"Just go in and and apologize. It doesn't have to be genuine." Starflight laughing though Fatespeaker had meant to be serious. "Get your stuff, take a nap until midnight and then sneak out. We can meet here."

"I don't think I'll be able to get up," Starflight chuckled. "I'm too sleepy."

"Then, then we take a nap here, and wake up in the evening."

"Ok. That sounds good."

Turns out, when you make jokes and talk about scrolls and forget about worries and you don't even remember you're supposed to be asleep, it's very easy to fall asleep.


	5. V(Starflight)

Starflight dropped down his bag, heavy with all the scrolls he could need. There were over 50 scrolls in there. Only a few on RainWings, but he would take what he could get.

Starflight wondered if she felt as scared as he was. The rational part of his brain was screaming _go back! Play it safe! Don't be a hero! You have it good here!_

"Seriously?" Asked Fatespeaker, brow bones raised. "I don't think you need that many scrolls. It'll be too heavy. How many do you have in there? All I brought was money, food, and water."

"Over 50," he said sheepishly. Fatespeaker rolled her eyes.

"Starflight, I know you memorize the gist of your scrolls. How many do you have memorized that are in there?"

"41 I think."

"Then take out those 41 scrolls. Get rid of them. I promise that I'll buy you new scrolls on the mainland." Starflight reluctantly sorted through his scrolls and collected the 41 scrolls that he knew the gist of. He was dismayed that he knew all the RainWing scrolls.

"These are the only scrolls I have on RainWings. Can I keep them for reference?" Fatespeaker sighed.

"I guess so." Starflight shoved the scrolls he got to keep in his bag which was now much lighter. He looked longingly at the other scrolls. Fatespeaker picked them up and tossed them into a lava-filled gorge.

"Come on. We need to find the tunnel to the rainforest. Do you know where it is?" She asked. Starflight shook his head no.

"Oh come on, you're supposed to be the one with all the insider info." Starflight rolled his eyes. "Let's go find it then."

Starflight soon found out that it's very hard to find a tunnel on an island full of caves and hiding spots. They flew around for hours, looking in nooks and crannies. Starflight's wings ached and he had a scratch on his leg from bumping into a wall by accident. He was also hungry and thirsty. And it was so dark that it was hard to see even with night vision. And he had the lingering fear that morning would come and Mastermind would notice him missing before he even left the island. What would his father do? More importantly, what would Morrowseer do to him?

"Starflight, I hear something," said Fatespeaker. Starflight listened closely and he could hear footsteps. Whoever it was started getting closer and closer. They both stepped back into a cave. Fatespeaker let out a wail and Starflight turned and saw that she had tripped and got her foot stuck in a crevice.

"Try to pull it out," he whispered to her. She tried and groaned in pain.

"I can't," she said softly.

"Why are you out?" a voice asked from outside the cave asked. Starflight whipped around, and in the entrance to the cave stood Deathbringer. Starflight shrunk back involuntarily. He technically knew Deathbringer, everyone knew everyone else, but Deathbringer was only an acquaintance. He was always on some assassin mission or something. Starflight was a little bit afraid of him.

"We- we were exploring," Fatespeaker stuttered. Starflight expected for Deathbringer to be angry or something like that, but instead his expression was unreadable. But then he took on a large grin.

"I'd expect no less. But you should go back before anyone else finds you." Starflight stood still. Fatespeaker wrenched her foot out of the crevice and cursed, "Darkstalker's volcano!" Deathbringer started to walk away.

"Wait!" Fatespeaker said. Deathbringer turned back. "Where are you going?"

"An assassin gives no information," Deathbringer chuckled.

"I'll tell you what we're _really_ doing if you tell us what you are doing."

"Fatespeaker!" Yelled Starflight. Deathbringer rolled his eyes.

"You go first," he said. Starflight tried to clamp his talon over Fatespeaker's mouth but she pushed him away. _Please don't tell him_ , Starflight thought.

"We're running away." Deathbringer's eyes widened.

"I assume you're going through one of the tunnels."

"Yes we are," said Fatespeaker. _Shut up, shut up, shut up! Don't tell him any more!_

"I'm going to visit someone in the rainforest. I can show you where the tunnel is if you like." Fatespeaker nodded. She nudged Starflight.

"Bet you're glad that I told him _now_ ,"she whispered.


	6. Vl (Fatespeaker)

Fatespeaker came out of the tunnel last, and she had to just stop to admire what she was seeing. Even in the low dawn light, the forest had more colors than Fatespeaker had seen her entire life. Little critters and bugs were skittering about. There were sounds of birds and frogs and monkeys. It was overwhelming.

"It's amazing, right? It shocks me every time and I've come through a million times," Deathbringer said, startling her.

"The drawings in the scrolls aren't this good," said Starflight. Fatespeaker nodded her head absent-mindedly, still admiring the rainforest.

"Well, I gotta go do my thing, bye," said Deathbringer before flying away, leaving Fatespeaker and Starflight on their own.

"As much as I would like to stay and admire the scenery," started Starflight, "I think we should go on with our plan, and try to find the queen." Fatespeaker nodded, and they made their way slowly through the rainforest. They had to move slowly, because the undergrowth was so thick that it was hard to walk and branches kept whacking them in the face. Still, it was amazing to Fatespeaker.

"What are two NightWings doing in the rainforest," said someone. Fatespeaker turned to the voice and saw two RainWings lounging in hammocks. The one on the left, who Fatespeaker was pretty sure had spoken, was a golden color, with green and pink scales scattered randomly. The other dragon appeared to be sleeping as he had his eyes closed, and his scales shifted between sharp green and sky blue. Fatespeaker tried to plan her words, but Starflight beat her to it.

"We were hoping someone could take us to talk with the queen. We want to warn her about something."

"Ok. I'll take you to her hut. I'm Lion by the way." Lion prodded the dragon on the hammock next to him. "Jay? Jay, wake up we're going to take these dragons to meet Magnificent." _Magnificent? I thought their queen was Queen Dazzling?_ Jay looked up, and groaned.

"Lion, some dragons have better things to do than to show some curious NightWings one of the most important dragons in our tribe."

"I thought your Queen was Queen Dazzling?" Starflight said questioningly.

"Ignorant NightWings. She was Queen earlier, for now it's Magnificent," Jay said, condescendingly.

"Come on," said Lion.

Lion explained their system of rotating queens to them. Fatespeaker didn't quite understand, but as long as the RainWings got to know what the NightWings were planning it was fine. For a little bit a smaller RainWing named Dove came along to talk to Lion, and then she excused herself to go pick fruit near the MudWing border.

Lion led them through the large RainWing village, and Fatespeaker was surprised to see how simplistic the huts and hammocks were. RainWings seemed to use their resources wisely. She was also surprised that RainWings seemed to not have a definitive sleep schedule, Lion said they slept only for naps and 'sun time'. Starflight was amazed, and he kept asking questions to Lion. Jay started to answer him sarcastically, and then Fatespeaker would give her own sarcastic retort sometimes.

Lion pointed to a line of dragons standing outside of a hut. The line was very long, and twisted around many trees so it was hard to see where the line was.

"This is the line for seeing the queen," said Jay. "Have fun waiting." Jay walked away and Lion waved, before heading off in the opposite direction.

As they waited in line, Starflight took out a scroll to read. Fatespeaker busied herself in her mind, trying to say the alphabet backwards, trying to force herself to daydream, etc. But she gave up and started reading over Starflight's shoulder. The scroll was about RainWings, and it was written from a NightWing perspective. Starflight scribbled down notes like Ithe color changing is not instantaneous, it just fades from one color to the next really fast./I

Starflight eventually noticed Fatespeaker, and playfully tried to hide his scroll. Fatespeaker kept finding ways to look at it. In no time, they were the next in line.

"Fatespeaker?" Asked Starflight.

"Yeah?"

"I wrote down what I'm going to say. Can you check it for me?"

"Sure." What Starflight wrote down was very diplomatic, it even had written responses to likely questions Queen Magnificent might ask.

"I think it's very thorough. Good job." She patted him on the back.

A RainWing came out of the hut and someone said, "next!" Starflight and Fatespeaker stepped into the hut. It was modest, made out of the same materials as the other huts. There was one dragon in the corner that might have been a guard. She had a sloth hanging from her neck, but otherwise she was quite stoic. Magnificent herself was curled in a nest made of various furs. She wore a necklace made of flowers, and under her wing there was a sloth. Starflight cleared his throat, and brandished the scroll he had written his speech on.

"Queen Magnificent-" he was interrupted by the Queen.

"Ooh, NightWings! I haven't seen a NightWing before!" The guard, who Fatespeaker noticed was a dragonet, rolled her eyes. "Anyway, continue."

"We've come here to warn you of a threat from our tribe. We have run away to tell you this. The NightWings are planning an invasion to take over the rainforest."

"Mm, I'll handle it later. Glory, call the next dragon."

"Magnificent, as your royal advisor I think you should take this a little more seriously," said Glory diplomatically.

"I'll think about it."

"NEXT!" Called Glory. "Follow me," she said to them. Fatespeaker followed, Starflight behind her.

"I'm sorry for the queen. I try to steer her in the right direction, but 'Royal Advisor' doesn't really mean anything around here. I however, am going to take this threat seriously. Can you tell me a bit more?" Starflight told Glory all that he knew, and Glory's expression was grim.

"I think you deserve to know this, I'm planning to challenge the queen for the throne, and I'm pretty confident I'll succeed. When I'm queen, I'm going to definitely do something about this. I'm going to rescue the RainWings and probably blockade the tunnel."

"So you're a princess?" Asked Fatespeaker.

"RainWings don't have families, so any female can challenge the queen," responded Glory.

"Thanks," said Starflight. "I can show you the tunnel if you want."

"That would be very helpful, thanks," said Glory.

"I think I'm going to take a nap," yawned Fatespeaker.

"Go ahead, they won't mind a bit," Glory chuckled. Fatespeaker make her way into a hammock, and instantly fell asleep from exhaustion.


	7. Vll (Fatespeaker)

**Happy birthday to me**

 **Happy birthday to me**

 **Happy birthday RiverClanRules124346**

 **Happy birthday to me**

 **Yes, I am tacky enough to sing myself happy birthday. It's November 8. I'm not telling you my age.**

 **Anyway, Part 2 is now in swing!**

Part 2: Wandering the Mainland

Fatespeaker didn't want to get out of her hammock. It was so nice to just sway gently in the sun. But Starflight was already up, and he had a lot of scrolls laid out on a rock. Fatespeaker got up and went over to him.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked. Starflight pulled over a map of Pyrhhia.

"I'm trying to decide if we should stay in the rainforest or go to live somewhere else in Pyrhhia." Starflight had circled different points in the Sky Kingdom and the Mud Kingdom. There were a few in the desert, but not a lot. Notes about each location were written in Starflight's messy handwriting.

Fatespeaker hadn't thought about what to do after they warned the RainWings; the thought just hadn't occurred to her. But the RainWings were so welcoming that if they wanted to stay, they could.

"I think that it might be a good idea to stay in the rainforest," said Fatespeaker. "We'll be taking a gamble if we go anywhere else, let's not push our luck."

"I'd say, that we don't have much luck already," Starflight muttered. "Magnificent probably won't do anything about what we said."

"But Glory will take care of it. Let's stay around, and see that everything turns out ok." Starflight looked skeptically at her, but eventually he nodded.

"I think that's good. Let's stay here." Starflight put all of his scrolls into his bag.

As Fatespeaker and Starflight stayed longer and longer, Fatespeaker noticed that the RainWings whispered about them, but they mostly spoke nice things, or at least not bad things. Fatespeaker became more and more confident that she and Starflight had made the right choice in staying.

Before long, they had stayed there for a week.

Fatespeaker was picking berries when Glory came up to her.

"Why are you still here?" Asked Glory.

"Starflight and I like it here. It's way more peaceful than the NightWing island."

"Yes it's peaceful, but it's boring. I know Starflight loves scrolls; there are none of those here except for the ones that Starflight brought himself. You should go to one of the cities around the Great 5 Tail River. Or in the southern part of the desert. They have more history and culture. I like it here, but I travel when I can't just sit here and watch my dead beat queens do nothing. Go. Enjoy the outside world."

"But Glory, this is so much better than the NightWing island. I don't want to push my luck." Glory rolled her eyes, which she did a lot.

"Trust me," said Glory, then walked away. Even though Glory technically wasn't royalty yet, she emitted an aura of power which made it hard to believe that Glory was just a normal dragon. Fatespeaker began to consider Glory's suggestion.

Before Fatespeaker left, she noticed that Glory had dropped a note. She looked, and it was a list of cities and the major tribes.

 _Possibility: SkyWings/SandWings_

 _Scorpion den: SandWings_

 _Oasis: SandWings_

 _Sandstorm: SandWings_

 _Rocky bog: MudWings_

 _5 Tail River Valley: SkyWings_

Fatespeaker put down the basket of berries she had collected, and Starflight looked up then went back to the scroll he was writing on.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Well, since I can't get any new scrolls, I decided to write one of my own. It's pretty bad though."

"I'm sure it's great. But, I had a conversation with Glory, and she thinks that we should go somewhere else. She gave me a list of cities that we could go to."

"Can I see it?" Starflight inquired. Fatespeaker handed him the list.

"I can find all of these on the map, except for Oasis. I think it would be nice to go to one of these places."

"So you think we should go?"

"Maybe. Let's talk about it."

They ruled out Possibility for the fighting, Rocky Bog for the location, and Oasis since they couldn't find it on the map. They chose Sandstorm, because of the small NightWing population. Starflight knew all this from the scroll that went along with the map with information on all cities listed on it.

Fatespeaker and Starflight packed their bags, to leave the next morning.


	8. Vlll (Starflight)

Starflight and Fatespeaker walked along a sandy road in Sandstorm. A cheery SandWing named Savannah was showing them around. She knew a little bit of everything that had to do with the city. She explained that most of the architecture was classic SandWing, but in the North Western corner of the city there was a lot of NightWing influence because of the small group that lived there.

They passed a NightWing, and Starflight just marveled at how healthy she looked. Her dark blue gray scales actually _shined_.

They passed by stalls that were selling various items, and Fatespeaker bought him a scroll.

"I told you I'd get you new scrolls."

"Thank you." Fatespeaker also got a map of the city, and a snack.

Savannah introduced them to her friends Camel and Fighter. Camel came off as a pretty nice guy, and he was a librarian so Starflight instantly liked him. Fighter was a fellow NightWing, and he said that his parents had been runaways from the island. They all sat down near a food stall and had lunch.

Fatespeaker kept talking with Savannah and Fighter (Camel had to go do his shift at the library) while Starflight read the scroll Fatespeaker had bought for him about MudWing succession over the past thousand years. For a pretty normal tribe, the MudWings had a complicated line of succession. At one point there had been four queens, because the bigwings didn't want her sisters to miss out.

Eventually, the conversation ended and Savannah showed them to the peaceful inn that she worked at. It had a gentle fire and comfy seating. Starflight curled up next to Fatespeaker on the couch and he told her the fascinating story of the four MudWing Queens of 4329 A.S.

Eventually they went upstairs to unpack their stuff, and Starflight was happy to just be in Sandstorm. But he didn't get too comfy. He had a feeling that this would not be his home anymore than the island or the rainforest was. But he held onto hope, no matter what his gut was telling him.

Starflight was thrilled by the selection of scrolls that the Sandstorm library had.

Savannah had showed Starflight the library when he asked about it. Starflight was delighted to see that they had nearly twice as many scrolls as the NightWing library.

He went straight to the non fiction section. It had so many topics, from the scorching to the lost continent. He picked up a scroll that was written by an IceWing (he had never seen a scroll written by and IceWing before; anything that could have propaganda was banned by the NightWings) and started reading.

He had just read the first chapter when Fatespeaker came in, and waved him over.

"I think you'll want to see this," she said, leading him onto main street by the hand. Dozens of SandWings and a few NightWings were standing around listening to a large armor-clad SandWing speak. The speaker was flanked by two SkyWings in similar armor.

"- And anyone who is drafted and resists will be punished," the SandWing read from a scroll. She began pacing through the crowd. Dragons shrunk back and young dragonets clung to their mothers and fathers.

"What's going on?" Starflight asked Fatespeaker, but Savannah, who he just noticed was there, answered instead.

"That's a 'recruiter' for Burn's army," she spat. "It's despicable. A dragon should be able to choose which side to be on, or to not be on a side. And they back it up with violence. The last one to speak up was stabbed with a spear. He died of infection." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take the risk and speak up."

"I don't think you should do that," Starflight had started to say but Savannah was already stepping out of the crowd.

"Hey! Why should we follow you? I don't want to fight for Burn! We're real dragons, we don't deserve this! You can take that scroll and shove it up your - Ah!" Savannah was interrupted. At first Starflight didn't know what happened, but then he saw the throwing knife lodged in Savannah's leg, and the sand turned red with blood. Starflight looked up and none of the soldiers showed any hints of remorse in their expressions. They looked heartless.


	9. lX (Fatespeaker)

**Sorry this came out late, but when I first wrote it it was unsatisfactory and I accidentally wrote Starflight' POV instead. Also, this is the last chapter in Fatespeaker's POV. A different character is going to have her POV along with Starflight in part 3, and I'm very excited to write her! You can guess in the comments who it is.**

"Let her serve as a reminder to everyone," the lead soldier said. "Disobedience will NOT be tolerated." She pointed at two SandWings, and they followed her, the SkyWings flanking them. Fatespeaker didn't have to ask to know that the two had been drafted. They were dragging their feet, and the SkyWings had to prod them with their spears to keep them moving.

"Oh no, oh no, no no no no no no," Camel came over to them, and yanked the knife out of Savannah's leg. She winced. "Why did you do that? You could have been killed!"

"No regrets," Savannah chuckled. "Hopefully they'll feel guilty for the rest of their lives. Besides, it's not that bad. I'll probably be able to fly once it heals." Camel glared at her.

"Come on. Let's get you to Cinder. Cinder is the doctor, by the way," he added to them. Fatespeaker followed them, hoping to see that Savannah was ok.

The hospital had two rooms, a waiting room and an exam room. Fatespeaker and Starflight were in the waiting room, along with Camel who seemed on the verge of pacing. He kept tapping his talons against his scales, and his eyes flicked around the room, mostly focused on the door to the exam room where the doctor was bandaging Savannah's wing. Fatespeaker too, was worried.

Fatespeaker got up. She didn't want him to stress unnecessarily. She was confident that Savannah would be ok.

"Camel, Savannah's gonna be alright, you know that right?" She asked. Camel nodded.

"I know, it's just, hard not to worry. She gets in a lot of fights. She's in here every other day. But I didn't think she'd go this far." Fatespeaker didn't know what to say in response, and it seemed that neither did Starflight. They waited in an awkward silence for a few seconds, before the door opened and out came Savannah and Cinder. Cinder was a small dragon, with a blanket hanging from her neck with strips ripped off.

Savannah stood in front of Camel, and he started yelling at her.

"Why would you do that! Think about Slither! He spoke up and died! You could have been dead if the knife had hit your chest!"

"Camel, it's ok. I'm fine. I promise I won't get in any more fights this week." Camel looked skeptical, but he hugged her, and they went off. Fatespeaker and Starflight were about to go too, but Cinder waved them over.

"I like to check over all the NightWings who come here, to make sure that they are in good health. I don't know where you come from, but I know it's a very harmful place," Cinder said.

"Okay then," Starflight said. As Cinder looked them over, she started talking in a low, hushed voice.

"I would like to warn you before you decide to stay here, this is not a good place to live. I only stay here because without me these people would die. I try to deter anyone that comes here from settling down. You saw what it was like today. A few months ago, it wasn't like this. But Burn's army has gotten restless and anxious, so they started drafting more. None of us want this, yet many are forced to fight. You, as NightWings, should be unaffected but it's just horrible to have to watch this happen in your home. You can handle a little more travel, right?"

Fatespeaker reeled back. She did not want to travel anymore. She wanted to stay and have real friends besides Starflight.

But how could she just ignore Cinder's words? They spoke the truth. She didn't have to be philosophical like Starflight to know that. She knew that the best thing to do would be to go. She didn't want to say so, she just wanted to stay with Savannah and live with Starflight in Sandstorm, but she knew that she had to say that they should go.

"Starflight, I think we should go. Maybe to the Scorpion Den? I foresee that we'll be happy if we leave. Savannah is nice, but I don't want to live here." She could practically see the gears turning in Starflight's mind as he thought over her words. That was how well she knew him.

"Yeah, let's go." Cinder looked happy, even though a major emotional decision was just made right in front of her.

"I have an uncle in the Scorpion Den," Cinder said. "Can you give him this letter?" Starflight took the letter. Fatespeaker wished he didn't. Fatespeaker knew it was irrational, but she didn't like Cinder. She was the bringer of bad news and change. Fatespeaker had heard the phrase "don't kill the messenger." Despite this, Fatespeaker couldn't help but be angry.

 _I don't like you Cinder. I sincerely hope you can tell._


	10. X (Starflight)

One of the things that Starflight liked about traveling was the view. On the way to Sandstorm, he and Fatespeaker were able to see the mountains, albeit from very far way. They had flown over many historic battlegrounds from decades before, even before the war, and Starflight had told Fatespeaker all about the ones that he had heard of.

From the air, Starflight could see the Scorpion Den. Even from afar he could tell that it was even more dense than Sandstorm, and that was saying something. It also looked older, the colorful canopies and tents were faded from the scorching hot sun but it still had the same general style of architecture. And that was all from afar. Starflight imagined what it would look like up close.

Starflight and Fatespeaker landed a few feet from the entrance, and immediately Starflight noticed two annoyed looking guards, one larger and one smaller.

"NightWings, that's a new one," said the smaller of the two guards. The other one laughed, though Starflight didn't see how it was funny.

"Um, we were hoping we could come here. We also need to give someone this letter," Starflight said. He held up the letter that Cinder had asked him to deliver.

"We can give it to whoever it's for," the larger guard replied, unimpressed. Fatespeaker looked pleadingly at them, and the small one rolled his eyes.

"Look, if you really want to get in, you're gonna need to give a contribution to the Outclaws, no contribution, no entry" the smaller guard growled.

"And, you'll still have to be approved before you can hope to see the city from the inside" said the larger one.

Starflight wanted to know what "approved" meant. He and Fatespeaker looked at each other, and Fatespeaker took out a small pouch of coins, and threw it at the guard. Starflight thought she could have been more polite, but he wasn't going to speak up. The larger guard counted the coins.

"Ok, I guess that's enough. Qibli, go get Sunny to check them." The smaller guard, Qibli, went through the gate. In about a minute, he came back with another dragon. She had golden scales in patterns unlike any other SandWing's. Starflight knew the scale patterns, he just didn't remember where he knew them from. Her eyes were green, with silver teardrop shaped scales in the corners of her eyes. She didn't talk to them or anything, she just had a calm calculating expression. She didn't even stare at them.

"Sixclaws, Qibli, they should come with me. I think they have some information that Thorn would want to know about." Sixclaws and Qibli stepped aside, and Starflight and Fatespeaker followed Sunny into the walled in city of the Scorpion Den.


	11. Xl (Starflight)

**Constructive criticism welcomed**

They walked through a stone alleyway, Sunny in the lead. Sharp scents of spicy food being cooked filled the air. Stall owners started yelling as they passed.

"Crocodile stew? Roasted scorpion? Bag of crickets?"

"Don't lie to her! She's just as powerful as you!" _Are they talking about Sunny?_

"Stock up on brightsting cactus!"

"Need anyone killed little lady?" one said to Fatespeaker. "Here, take my card." He thrust a metal card into Fatespeaker's talons, but she threw it away, repulsed.

"Good move," said Sunny. "You don't want him. Too expensive, barely competent." Dragons were rushing from place to place. One dragon almost stepped on Sunny's tail, but she got out of the way just in time.

A wooden signboard caught Starflight's eye: two dragons' faces carved under the words wanted. He twisted his head to try and stare at the faces as Fatespeaker hurried him past. He could have sworn one of them was Morrowseer...

"You'll be meeting with my mother, Thorn. She's the leader of the Outclaws. Don't worry, she won't harm you unless you lie." Starflight gulped.

Sunny lead them past tangles of dragons. She kept saying things to dragons as they passed by like "don't worry, your wife's not cheating on you," or "don't bet on that."

Starflight kept seeing the wanted signs. It was definitely Morrowseer, and a NightWing he had never seen before. He had no doubt about that. Starflight also noticed a few SkyWings among the crowd of SandWings, and even an IceWing, who must've been miserable in the heat. And most of the SandWings had some sort of battle scars. It must've been a haven for injured soldiers. Starflight doubted that the Scorpion Den had the same problems as Sandstorm.

They went down 5 stone stairs, and their talons sank into the sand. There was a palm tree, overlooking a large oasis with blueish green water. Several guards were prowling around it.

"In the desert, she who controls the water controls everything," Sunny said. "That's why the city was built here."

They continued on until they reached a white tent. Sunny went inside, and gestured for them to follow. Sunny went to sit next to Thorn. They looked nothing alike. Thorn looked just like a normal SandWing, while Sunny looked weird, but sweet. Starflight and Fatespeaker sat down on a colorful rug.

"NightWings," Thorn said darkly. "Well, well, well. We haven't had any of you visit our fine city in about seven years."

"Hear them out, mom," Sunny said.

"Where is Morrowseer?" Thorn asked, leaning forward. Starflight clenched his jaw. He didn't want to think about Morrowseer. _How much should I tell her?_

"I suggest telling her everything," Sunny said, as if reading his mind. _How does she keep doing that? Not even NightWings trained in "mind reading" can do that._

"He, he's on the island where we live. It has an active volcano that erupted 11 years ago. It's going to erupt again about a year from now. And, and I think it's off the coast of the Sky Kingdom, but I'm not quite sure," Starflight stuttered. "And there are tunnels to it. There's one here, in the desert. That leads to the rainforest, which has its own tunnel to the NightWing island." Thorn grinned.

"Finally! Finally I know where he is! I can track him down! Thank you! For the love of water thank you!" Sunny nodded, and went to a back room. Starflight had no idea what she nodded to though. But Starflight was overall relived to get such a positive reaction out of Thorn.

"There's more!" Fatespeaker exclaimed. "He's planning to take over the rainforest from the RainWings!" Thorn looked even more delighted.

"I haven't heard this much good information in my life! I don't suppose you've heard of Stonemover, have you?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Starflight said after a long pause. Sunny came back into the room, carrying a big chest. She set it down, and opened the lid to reveal dozens of shimmery gold coins.

"This," she started. "Is the reward for knowing the whereabouts of Morrowseer. It's all yours." Starflight sat, stunned. Fatespeaker's jaw dropped.

"Wow! Thank you so much!" Fatespeaker said.

"You're welcome, and thank you. Feel free to stay in the Scorpion Den for as long as you want. You're our honored guests."


	12. Xll (Sunny)

Starflight and Fatespeaker went out through the flap of the tent, leaving Sunny and Thorn.

"Mom, I think I'm going to show them around," Sunny said. Thorn nodded. Sunny could tell that Thorn was happier than she had been in years, even without reading her mind.

Sunny and Thorn didn't know why Sunny had NightWing powers, because Sunny's father didn't have them, and he said that none of the other NightWings did either. Sunny had taught herself how to interpret visions, how to not get overwhelmed by all the voices in her head, and how to put her powers to good use. For the visions, she had a leather-bound notebook where she wrote down the most probable futures. For the voices, Sunny imagined every voice was a grain of sand, or a gold coin. And she used her powers to help her mother keep the peace inside the bubble that was the Scorpion Den.

Sunny went outside to hear Starflight and Fatespeaker talking. Fatespeaker then walked away. She was going to deliver a letter to the uncle of a friend she had met. Sunny decided to converse with Starflight.

"What are ya going to buy with all that gold?" Sunny asked casually, making small talk. She already knew the answer. Scrolls.

"Scrolls, probably," he answered, shrugging. "Do you have a library?"

"No," she said apologetically. "But we do have a lot of stands selling scrolls."

Starflight smiled. "Can you take me to them?"

"Sure." She answered back.

It was always nice to talk to someone, it felt less deceitful than just reading a mind and giving a reply. Usually, Sunny was really confident with her powers, but once in a while she would get overwhelmed or someone would hate her for her powers and she questioned whether or not it was ok for her to just use her powers all the time. Sunny didn't quite know if she was given a choice between keeping her powers or getting rid of them, if she would pick to keep them or lose them. At the moment Sunny wasn't too concerned, she was just having a friendly conversation.

They reached the book stalls. The sky was getting dark; Sunny didn't realize how late it was. Starflight walked from stall to stall, and Sunny couldn't help but listen to his thoughts about the scrolls. IAlready read that one, all those are Queen Coral's non fiction, eh, that doesn't seem interesting. What should I read?/I

Sunny looked through the racks herself, picking up a few and reading the summaries. She picked up another scroll, and was pulled into a vision.

 _Starflight and herself were in a dust colored tent, where the chest of Starflight's gold was tucked away in the corner, and things were strewn all across the canvas floor._

 _"Thanks for recommending this scroll, Sunny," said vision Starflight. "Sorry about the mess. Fatespeaker is a very messy dragon to live with." Sunny laughed._

 _"You're welcome. And my mother is just as messy." Starflight laughed back. The vision ended._

Sunny took the scroll over to Starflight.

"I think you should read this one ," she told him. He took the scroll in his talons and read the summary. He smiled.

"I'm going to read this one," he said, with a tone of happiness in his voice. He went over and paid for the scroll with a gold coin, from the chest he had been lugging around. Sunny had offered to carry it, but he refused.

"Hey Sunny? Can I ask you something?" Starflight asked.

"Sure," Sunny replied.

"How do you always respond to what I'm thinking?" Starflight questioned. Sunny almost reeled back, surprised. She stopped, thinking. For once, no visions came to her.

 _Should I tell him? He deserves to know, everyone deserves to know. But what if he lashes out against me? Well, if he does I don't need him._

Sunny pulled him into an alleyway where they couldn't be heard.

"I can read minds." Sunny said it so bluntly because she had no real idea how to phrase her words in an un-blunt way. She hoped that it hadn't cost her the conversation.

Starflight's eyes widened so wide that it seemed like his eyes were going to pop out. His jaw moved like he was trying to say something but couldn't get it out.

"That, that, that's not possible! Not even, not even NightWings can do that! H- h- how?" Starflight stuttered, pulling away.

"I don't even know why I can either. I can also see the future..." Starflight turned around, eyes still wide.

"I- I don't know how to think about this. I- I need to process this." Without another word, Starflight hefted his chest, and jogged away, leaving Sunny having no clue what to do.


End file.
